The Trial of the Monarch
The Trial of the Monarch is the twelveth episode in the first season of The Venture Brothers. Storyline The scene is of a deep, dark cave, and Hank is dressed in the garb of Indiana Jones while Dean has more than a passing resemblance to Magnum, P.I.. They are exploring a lost tomb and uncover some ancient writings which Dean begins to decipher, but his speaking awakens a giant statue of an hoplite soldier ready to kill them! Brock swings in confidently and saves the day, but a far worse evil appears-the Monarch, clad in a much more intimidating costume! He manages with a flick of his finger to freeze Brock solid and readies himself to destroy those accursed Venture Brothers at last...but the boys turn the tables on him by magically becoming an ultra-powerful Transformer, Mecha Shiva! ...at that point the Monarch breaks Hank and Dean's obviously false and overblown testimony, and the judge demands order in the court, calling for a short recess. He calls the Monarch into his office to talk to him, and how his actions may very well make him lose this case, which is of him being accused of a cop's dissapearance around the Phantom Limb's house. The Monarch simply brushes him off, when the prosecutor pops in-a very southern looking gentleman...whose stomach and coat suddenly open up to reveal a tiny, half-formed midget popping out. This man, known simply as Tiny Attorney, states that he has had plenty of experience putting away supervillains behind bars. Amongst those in the court audience are Team Venture, also asked to be witnesses to the Monarch's previous breaches of the law (Dr. Venture states angrily if he knew he could have called the cops on a supervillain all this time, he would have done it years ago). The Monarch himself now begins to relate his side of the story: a tell-all book telling embarrasing things about him, the Cocoon and henchmen, and Dr. Girlfriend has been published and the Monarch demands vengance. After executing the (wrong) henchman by replacing his blood with acid and feeding him to the sharks (which is the wrong order to have tortured him), Monarch quickly begins to bicker with and berate Dr. Girlfriend over her past daliances with former villianous cohorts, eventually throwing her out of their place and bawling hysterically. At that point, a cloaked figure in the back of the room speaks up-it's Dr. Girlfriend, and she's talking of how the way the Monarch puts it is still glorifying him (Dr. Venture sarcastically comments that her apperance was 'so unexpected). The court takes yet another recess. We learn another black-coated figure is with Dr. Girlfriend and that they will begin a certain plan involving the courtroom very soon...in any event, Dr. Girlfriend is up on the stand and talks of how she went to her old boyfriend the Phantom Limb for a place to spend the night, with Phantom Limb taking a resurgent romantic intrest in her and giving her the old revealing outfit she wore as his moll, Etheria, as something dry to wear. The Monarch drunkenly shows up at the door sometime later, demanding for Dr. Girlfriend to come back and yelling at her once he sees her in the scandalous costume, and soon the police arrive, and a cop does dissapear, with only the Monarch still around yelling and thus being a prime suspect. ...in the meantime, Brock has taken the boys outside the room and is boredly watching over them and smoking as they attempt to solve a 'mystery'. They use such 'techniques' such as placing a hair from Hank's head on the bathroom doorknob that'll fall off to show if the suspect opens the door-all of a sudden the door slams open to reveal Dr. Orpheus, who had spent too much time in there due to the horrors of Taco Bell for lunch! He is asked to probe the Monarch's mind to find out what really happened and if he is truly guilty, and enters the room. At that point Brock pushes the boys into the bathroom, mashing their faces to the floor and covering their ears... Dr. Orpheus is ready to probe the Monarch's mind and learns a startling discovery-the cop DID dissapear, but by the instructions of the Guild and Phantom Limb, and such a breaching of a law and grasp of power by the Guild was witnessed by the drunken Monarch. Before Dr. Orpheus can proclaim such a relevation for the court the black-coated man brings out a gun and flash-freezes the entire court! He drops his disguise to reveal himself as the Phantom Limb, and orders several Guild members to take away Tiny Attorney, who had been a thorn in their side for quite a while. Phantom Limb whispers a subliminal message to Dr. Orpheus that the Monarch IS undeniably guilty, and makes sure that he will get the archenemy he so desires. Seeing Phantom Limb's actions, Dr. Girlfriend then whispers to the Monarch that she really is innocent and didn't mean to have this happen-but rather, the Venture Brothers actually did all this. The Guild also has word sent to Brock that it's safe to enter the courtroom again and thanks him for his cooperation, to which Brock merely replies for them to go, and he and the boys re-enter the courtroom just as the freezing vapor wears off. Once everything is back to normal, despite the absence of Tiny Attorney, Dr. Orpheus shrilly proclaims he has found the Monarch guilty beyond a doubt. Soon we see the Monarch in prison, talking to what seems to be Dr. Girlfriend, and that all will be well once he's released decades later-but a quick shot reveals that it's merely #24 dressed in Dr. Girlfriend's clothes to placate the Monarch, and that he wants to go now. Quotes Dr. Venture: Well if I knew I could have just called the cops on him, I would have done it years ago! Brock: Nice job boys, case closed. You solved the mystery of who took a dump in the bathroom. Trivia *The opening was cut to a quick shot of just the logo besides the trademark image of a skull for this episode, for more time to show what happened in the episode. *The end credits were also altered; instead of a shot of the various highlights in the episode superimposed upon backgrounds used in the episode, we see just a spiral, representing the probing Dr. Orpheus did. *When the Monarch raves on how the writer of the scandalizing biography will be punished, #s 21 and 24 look especially distraught, revealing they were the likely ghostwriters. Category:The Venture Bros. episodes